Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t11: Su Xuelin
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t11
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Su Xuelin
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Su Xuelin was a Chinese writer and scholar. She was originally known as Su Xiaomei, but in 1919 changed her name to Su Mei with a style name of Xuelin and became known with this name. Her ancestral home was in Taiping, Anhui (now Huangshan District, Huangshan City). She was born in Rui’an, Zhejiang and was known for her bold academic ideas, and believed that India-China communications began in the Warring States Period, and ‘*Chuci*’ and the ancient philosophers at that time were all under the influence of India.
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**Life** Su Xuelin was a descendent of Su Zhe, a renowned writer of the Northern Song Dynasty. When she was a little girl, she attended a private school and was never seen without a book in hand. In 1915, she went to Anqing to study at the Provincial Primary Normal School for Women. She was good at poetry and painting, and read all kinds of books, both ancient and modern, both Chinese and foreign. In 1919, she left Anqing for Beijing to study at Department of Chinese of the Beijing Advance Normal College for Women and under the supervision of great masters such as Hu Shi. Lu Yin, Feng Yuanjun and Shi Pingmei were her classmates. She published articles on ‘Xuedeng’ (a supplement of *Shishi Xinbao*), Xuehui (a supplement of *Guofeng Ribao*) and Fujuan (a supplement of *Chenbao*) which debated on social
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Chu Sao Xin Gu
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issues. She went to France in 1921 to study at Lyon Sino-French College, then at Lyon National Art College, and became a Catholic during her stay in France. She returned to China in 1925, taught Chinese literature at Soochow University, University of Shanghai and Wuhan University, as well as wrote books. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949 for work, and became a professor at National Taiwan Normal University in 1952, and a professor at National Cheng Kung University in 1957. Her more than a dozen writings can be divided into two groups, literary and academic. She was famous for the collection of essays *Green Skies* and the autobiographical novel *Thorny Heart*. *Kunala’s Eyes* is a three-act drama inspired by Indian stories. It was published on the monthly *Wenxue* (Issue 5, volume V) on November 1, 1935, and praised the great power of love by describing various conflicts between the young prince Kunala and his parents who are bound by traditions. Her *Wentan Huajiu* (1969) is a commentary on Chinese writers prior to and after the May Fourth Movement using wickedly sharp and obviously clear language. On the academic front she wrote *Literature during Liao, Jin and Yuan* (1933), *An Introduction of Tang Poetry* (1933), *A History of Chinese Literature* (1980), etc. From 1943 onwards, she whole heartedly turned to study Qu Yuan and from 1971 to 1980, successively published four treatises with a total of 1.6 million words, including *Qu Yuan and Nine Songs*, *Tianwen Zhengjian*, *Chusao Xingu* and *Qufu Luncong*. She was buried in Huangshan beside the tomb of her mother after passed away. In the past decade, she has become famous again in China. Anhui Literature and Arts Publishing House has published *Collected Works of Su Xuelin* (four volumes) in 1996, Wuhan University Press has published a number of her treatises, and the essay *Xishui* (*Stream Water*) was included into Chinese textbooks for middle school.
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**Main Opinions** In 1944, Su Xuelin published *Three Myths in Tian Wen* on the monthly *Shuowen*, suggesting that it contains stories of Samudra manthan. Of course, in her opinion, concepts, such as colossal turtle carrying a mountain, a viper devouring an elephant, and immortal herbs (called as Amrita in India and as Ganlu in China), were all derived from India. From myths in *Tian Wen* and gods in *Jiu Ge* (*Nine Songs*), she concluded that Qu Yuan’s works all had been under the influence of the culture in the Western Regions and so all appeared exotic. His works were grand, imaginative and with form and contents all different from those before and after him. So without foreign culture, there would be no such works. Why? She explained, Qu Yuan had gone to the kingdom of Qi on diplomatic mission a number of times, and had the chance to meet foreigners and got to know about foreign culture. He thus acquired a good knowledge of foreign astronomy, geography and mythology, and poetically incorporated many novelties from them into ‘*Tian Wen*’.
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Besides, Su Xuelin thought ‘*Liezi*’ was not an untrue book, and ideas in it had been influenced by India as well. The huge hawk mentioned in *Zhuang Zi* was derived from India’s *garuda* (Sanskrit), the redpoll in Buddhist *sutras*. In the Warring States, animal fables were very popular. Some animal tales in *Zhan Guo Ce* were adapted from Indian ones. She also suggested, though there are no records of India-China communications in the Warring States Period, this did not mean there was no such traffic, since Chinese historians seldom cared and wrote about civil activities, and merchants were afraid that the government might impose heavy taxes if their smuggling activities were exposed. Prior to Zhang Qian’s visit to the Western Regions, goods produced in Sichuan had been brought to Bactriane via India, but Chinese authorities knew nothing about these activities. This serves as a typical proof in this respect. She alleged, in the course of such traffic, merchants were also transmitted the culture between India and China. As a result, she assumed, in the Warring States, China already had cultural exchange with India and was under the influence of Indian literature.
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Through approaches of comparative mythology and literature, Su Xuelin conducted a macro and cross-cultural study, with a conclusion that connection existed between foreign culture (including Indian culture) and Chinese culture in the Warring states and that West-Asian culture was twice introduced into China prior to the Qin Dynasty. She was of the opinion that, cultural prosperity in the Warring States Period was mainly due to the fact that foreign scholars, in order to stay away from wars and conflicts, came to China and brought with them different ideas. After been stimulated, China thus had the most vigorous, lively and unprecedented golden era for culture. She thought, ancient Chinese civilisation was connected to that of the Western Regions, and agreed that the world’s culture had the same origin.
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(*Liu Jian*)